Gertrude the Gossiper

A gossiper named Gertrude was appalling;
Wherever rumors lurked, she would come calling.
At telling lies
She took the prize.
To stretch a bit of truth, she found enthralling.

When she was near, a flame of gossip grew
To fiery tales of scandal quite untrue.
They'd burn with shame
The victim's name
Before their blazing finally was through.

She'd sow a seed of gossip in the ground
Till it burst forth to scatter more around.
When ill winds blew,
Nobody knew
Wherever those bad seeds would then be found.

She'd spread a germ of gossip with a sneeze,
That once picked up and carried by a breeze,
Became a cold
Or virus bold,
Till one day, it would be full-blown disease.

She loved a tiny taste of gossip sweet,
But turned it bitter when the words she'd eat.
She'd spit it out
To spread about
A vile display of what she'd thought a treat.